Personalized webpage gifting system

ABSTRACT

A personalized webpage gifting system is provided that includes a server that generates a graphical user interface (GUI) on a computing device for receiving recipient information associated with a recipient and one or more participants from a host. Using this information, the server creates a personal uniform resource locator (URL) based upon at least a portion of the recipient information, and generates a personalized webpage addressed by said personal uniform resource locator, the personalized webpage comprising personalized content for the recipient received from the host and the one or more participants.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/964,895, filed Aug. 12, 2013; which is a continuation-in-part U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/753,453, filed Jan. 29, 2013; whichclaims the benefit of the U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/592,320, filed Jan. 30, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/698,410, filed Sep. 7, 2012; U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.61/737,729, filed Dec. 14, 2012; and U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 61/737,731, filed Dec. 14, 2012, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates generally to computing systems, and moreparticularly, to a personalized gifting system that includes a webpagepersonalized for a recipient and a technique for supplying user-suppliedcontent to be transmitted to the recipient along with a gift card.

BACKGROUND

Transaction cards, stored value cards, or gift cards, as they arecommonly called based upon their intended use, have become populargifts. Gift cards typically comprise a stored value card whereby acertain cash equivalent value is encoded upon a magnetic strip appliedto the surface of the card. This stored value may be determined by thevendor prior to packaging and display for sale or may be selected at thepoint of sale by the purchaser and loaded by the cashier using amagnetic card reader/writer. As an alternative to a magnetic strip, atransaction card may use a bar code to link the card to an account bywhich the associated value is stored in a computer database. Gift cardsare typically provided with a generic and impersonal design, typicallyidentifying the associated merchant for which the card may be used topurchase merchandise, and therefore are not personalized in view of theintended recipient. Gift card holders may be used to augment the gift ofa transaction card by providing a surface for displaying decorations,images, or messages.

Gift cards are often presented for sale on display racks in stores, eachcard or packet of cards being hung upon a display stand peg. It is alsoknown to provide a selection of gift cards for purchase online through acommercial webpage. Such webpages may allow an online purchaser toselect among gift cards offered by a plurality of vendors, makeselections as to monetary value, and direct transmittal of the selectedgift card or cards to the address of an intended recipient.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, a personalized webpage gifting system isprovided that includes a server that generates a graphical userinterface (GUI) on a computing device for receiving recipientinformation associated with a recipient and one or more participantsfrom a host. Using this information, the server creates a personaluniform resource locator (URL) based upon at least a portion of therecipient information, and generates a personalized webpage addressed bysaid personal uniform resource locator, the personalized webpagecomprising personalized content for the recipient received from the hostand the one or more participants.

According to another aspect, a method includes generating a graphicaluser interface (GUI) for receiving recipient information associated witha recipient and one or more participants from a host. Using thisinformation, the method creates a personal uniform resource locator(URL) based upon at least a portion of the recipient information, andgenerates a personalized webpage addressed by said personal uniformresource locator, the personalized webpage comprising personalizedcontent for the recipient received from the host and the one or moreparticipants.

According to yet another aspect, software instructions executable on acomputing system generate a graphical user interface (GUI) for receivingrecipient information associated with a recipient and one or moreparticipants from a host. Using this information, the code creates apersonal uniform resource locator (URL) based upon at least a portion ofthe recipient information, and generates a personalized webpageaddressed by said personal uniform resource locator, the personalizedwebpage comprising personalized content for the recipient received fromthe host and the one or more participants.

According to yet another aspect, a personalized gifting system includesa server that generates a GUI on a computing device to receive recipientinformation associated with a recipient, at least one of user-suppliedaudio and/or video content, and information associated with a merchantof a gift card and a monetary amount to be associated with the gift cardfrom a user of the computing device. From this information, the servertransmits at least one of user-supplied audio or video content and thegift card to the recipient.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a computing system that includes anexample personalized webpage hosting system according to an aspect ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 1B depicts an embodiment of an example computing device accordingto one aspect of the personalized webpage hosting system.

FIG. 1C depicts an embodiment of an example data source according to anaspect of the personalized webpage hosting system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a computing system that includes an examplepersonalized webpage hosting application according to an aspect of thepersonalized webpage hosting system.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart depicting an example process for creating apersonalized webpage and associated personalized uniform resourcelocator (URL) according to an aspect of the gift card ordering system.

FIG. 3B is a flowchart depicting an example process of a PURL managementwebpage that is generated by the application according to the teachingsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 3C is a flowchart depicting an example process of a personalizedwebpage that is generated by the application according to the teachingsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 3D is a flowchart depicting an example process for displaying thepersonalized webpage to the recipient by the application according tothe teachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an example occasion selection screen displayed by thepersonalized webpage hosting system according to an aspect of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 5 is an example gift recipient screen displayed by the personalizedwebpage hosting system according to the teachings of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is an example host information entry screen displayed by thepersonalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7 an example design selections screen displayed by the personalizedwebpage hosting system according to the teachings of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8 is an example gift card selection criteria screen displayed bythe personalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is an example occasion detail criteria screen displayed by thepersonalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 10 is an example gift card holder selection types screen displayedby the personalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is an example group video selection criteria screen displayed bythe personalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is an example gift selection screen for displaying thepersonalized webpage to the recipient by the personalized webpagehosting system according to the teachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is an example gift card customization screen for displaying thepersonalized webpage to the recipient by the personalized webpagehosting system according to the teachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example splash screen that is generated by thepersonalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example drop-down list of the splash screen thatis generated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example detailed occasion screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 illustrates another example detailed occasion screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example details entry screen that is generated bythe personalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example gift card selection screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example gift card customization screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example group video entry screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example reveal video creation screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example reveal customization screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example invitation screen that is generated bythe personalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example guest invitation screen that is generatedby the personalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example home page screen that is generated by thepersonalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 27 illustrates an example gift card selection screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 28 illustrates an example initial splash screen that is generatedby the personalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 29 illustrates an example recipient home page screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 30A illustrates an example recipient gifting screen that isgenerated by the personalized webpage hosting system according to theteachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 30B illustrates example monikers that are displayed on therecipient gifting screen according to the teachings of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 30C illustrates an example merchant offer screen that is generatedby the personalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 30D illustrates example expanded monikers that are generated on themerchant offer that is generated by the personalized webpage hostingsystem according to the teachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 31 illustrates an example thank you screen that is generated by thepersonalized webpage hosting system according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in variousforms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosedherein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis forthe claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in theart to variously employ the present invention in virtually anyappropriately detailed structure.

A system according to the present invention includes a purchaseinterface of a system webpage for receiving initial purchase andpersonalization information from a purchaser. The purchase interface istypically a webpage created using HTML (e.g. HTML5), XML, XHTML, PHP(PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor), JAVASCRIPT™, JAVA™ and/or equivalentprogramming languages or scripts as generally known in the field of art.A user (i.e. purchaser or organizer) may arrive at the purchaseinterface via a link (e.g. html link) provided on a third party webpage,such as a third party webpage offering gift cards or other goods orservices, or the user may arrive at the purchase interface by directlyaccessing a system webpage. Certain embodiments or components of thepurchase interface may be accessible via a browser, mobile Internetapplication, or other Internet-accessible software on a personalcomputer, smart phone, tablet device, electronic game device or otherelectronic device used for Internet access.

The purchase interface allows the purchaser to select among severalthemes or occasions such as birthday, anniversary, wedding,congratulations, thank you, back to school, new baby, bridal,graduation, house warming, and including seasonal themes or occasionssuch as Christmas, Hanukah, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day,Father's Day, Boss's or Administrative Assistant Day. Selection of atheme or occasion will influence or determine the options offered to thepurchaser by the system during the transaction.

The purchaser is prompted to enter information identifying the purchaserand information identifying the recipient. Such information may includename, address, telephone number and email address. If the purchaser usesa device including GPS to access the system, such as mobile telephone,GPS data may be provided by the device to the system as a means ofproviding purchaser location. Further information entered for the giftrecipient may include gender, age, interests, etc. Providing intereststo the system may include the purchaser entering or selecting amongvendors typically frequented or preferred by the gift recipient. Thepurchaser is then prompted to select one or more gift cards or othergifting means, select or enter monetary amounts, and providepersonalization content, such as photographs or other images, sound orvideo files, or one or more messages to the recipient.

The purchaser may be presented with a choice to either create a closedcelebration or gifting presentation, whereby all selections aredetermined during the purchase process, or to create an open giftingpresentation, whereby the purchaser serves as a celebration organizer,and third parties, and in some embodiments the recipient, may providesubsequent additional content and selections.

The system may provide personalization choices to the purchaser such aswhether to deliver a selected gift card or cards to the recipient via agift card holder selected among pre-designed holders offered forselection, via a holder customized to include purchaser provided text,images, or sound, or via a video gift card holder customized byinclusion of a selected or purchaser-provided video. The video gift cardholder can store multiple videos provided by system users which may thenbe played sequentially. The PURL system allows users to load multiplevideos limited in total length only by the storage capacity of the videogift card holder. The system also allows each participant to viewstorage capacity (presented in video run time) remaining on the videogift card holder. The system will prevent video messages that go beyondthat capacity from being uploaded. In certain embodiments of the system,the system assigns a set time limit per participant and will not acceptvideo messages from a participant that exceed that time limit. Thesystem will also allow participants to view video messages uploaded byall participants, typically as a draft compiled video that includes alluploaded content to that point.

An email notification message is generated by the system to the giftrecipient and includes a link to a personalized webpage identified by aPURL. The personalized webpage and PURL are both created by the systemin response to selections and information provided by the purchaser.Typically, the PURL will incorporate some portion of the recipient'sname or other personal identifier. In certain instances the identifiermay relate to the name of a company or organization. The personalizedwebpage may include information provided by the purchaser such as therecipient's name, images, messages to the recipient, and informationregarding gifting. Means may be provided for the recipient to addinformation to the webpage such as a wish list or a message to thirdparties that view or interact with the webpage. Means may also beprovided for third parties, such as friends, relatives, or coworkers toadd information for presentation on the webpage or other use by thesystem, such as details of an event (e.g. birthday party), messages tothe recipient, or photos or video clips of an event. Informationgenerated by the system or provided by the system provider may also bepresented on the webpage such as information identifying giftingopportunities for a party interacting with the webpage. Informationprovided by a gift card vendor, or affiliates of the system provider orgift card vendor, may also be provided. For example, offers andadvertisements generated by or on behalf of the gift card vendor oraffiliate may be displayed.

In order to invite third parties to contribute to the content of thepersonalized webpage and/or to make gift purchase selections, a linkincorporating the PURL associated with the webpage may be sent to thirdparties via email, text message, social media or similar means. Thethird party invitation to participate may include graphics and textdesigned to encourage participation and build excitement. The invitationmay be sent well in advance of an alert to the recipient, so that thirdparties may make contributions and selections to the webpage, as well asgift purchases, prior to presentation of the webpage to the recipient.Alternatively, the recipient may be alerted shortly after creation ofthe personalized webpage and PURL so that the recipient may alsoinfluence content and selections, such as by providing a wish list orother information useful for participants to make gift purchasedecisions.

The names of parties who are invited by the organizer to participate inthe group gifting occasion, event or celebration, i.e. to becomeparticipants, will be listed publicly on the PURL page. Those who havecontributed a gift will be noted visually to represent theirparticipation. Information received about participant participation fromthe PURL invitation page will be stored in a relational database (e.g.Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL or other operable databases) and presented forviewing by all invitees. PHP or other operable means is used to collectdata from the PURL invitation page and transfer data to the relationaldatabase for storage. Data indicating which invitees have participatedor have not yet participated may be used to send reminders ornotifications (such as reminders for the group gift cut-off date tothose who have not yet responded). A participant may recommend anotherparty by adding that party's name and/or email address to a system formfor receipt by the system. The recommendation, including any informationprovided by the recommending participant, is provided by the system tothe organizer so that the recommended party may be accepted or rejectedby the organizer for acceptance as a participant. Such acceptance orrejection is indicated by the organizer to the system via user interfaceon a personalized webpage accessible to the organizer The organizer mayaccept or reject a recommended party for participation by activating anelement (e.g. check box, radio button or other known type of selectionelement) on the webpage. If a recommended party is accepted, a recordcorresponding to the party, such a record typically including an emailaddress, is added to the database record for participants. In certainembodiments, a notification may be provided by email or other means tothe organizer when a participant recommends another party forparticipation.

In order to alert the recipient to the personalized webpage, and toprovide a link incorporating the PURL associated with the webpage, thesystem may generate an email, text message, social media message orsimilar means of communication to the gift recipient. Alternatively, orin conjunction with the recipient alert message, a teaser video may becreated using content provided and selected by the purchaser with a linkto the teaser video provided in the message. In one embodiment, theteaser video may be generated from user-supplied content (e.g., textual,audio, photographic, and/or video content) that is transmitted at anysuitable time, such as prior to receipt of the PURL by the recipient.

A celebration video is a video file which may be provided on thepersonalized (PURL-addressed) webpage to extend the celebration for therecipient by communicating a particular sentiment, occasion, or giftcard brand experience to the recipient. The celebration video istypically personalized by uploading the recipient's photo to a systemcentral server. Text content can be added to certain customizable textfields such as the recipient's name and the occasion or sentiment. Uponuploading personalized content, the video is then rendered or compositedto include the personalized content. The recipient is able to share thecelebration video via social media channels by sharing the unique videoURL with their social networks (e.g. FACEBOOK™, TWITTER™, PINTEREST™,INSTAGRAM™, YOUTUBE™, and GOOGLE™).

To select and enable generation of a celebration video, the purchaser(typically the organizer) selects a celebration video type from amongseveral prerecorded videos (video templates) that may be viewed on orfrom a system interface. The organizer uploads a photograph of therecipient (and if provided as an option, a photograph of the organizeras well), enters the recipient's name in a text box, selects anappropriate occasion or sentiment from among several provided by thesystem, and enters the recipient's email address. In some embodiments,additional text fields may be provided to receive additional user textand additional photo or other image uploads may be accepted. Thephotograph and text are rendered into the selected video based onpre-defined fields within the video thereby creating an augmentedreality experience for the recipient. The user is provided with anoption to preview the video and make changes to the user information.When the user is satisfied with the video it is saved to a centralserver, i.e. a system video server. Upon completing the transaction viaa payment/checkout procedure, the customized video message is added tothe personalized webpage (the personalized webpage) where it can beviewed by other participants and ultimately by the recipient when theyreceive the personalized webpage.

As a further alternative that may be used in conjunction with any of theabove means of notification, a third party invitation to participate,and/or an alert to the recipient, may be conveyed via social media suchas a post to one or more FACEBOOK™ TWITTER™, PINTEREST™, YOUTUBE™,GOOGLE™ or other comparable accounts. System communications with socialmedia networks may be made via network APIs and JavaScript SDKs, forexample, using the Facebook SDK to invoke various APIs. It should beappreciated that communications between the system and social medianetworks make occur by any operable means. In addition to a link to thepersonalized webpage, these posts may provide additional informationrelated to the recipient and event and provide a means for coordinatingactivities related to the event.

As an alternative to email or text messages to convey links, QR codesmay be provided on gift cards, gift card holders, inserts, backerpanels, correspondence, or other physical items conveyed to the giftrecipient. These QR codes may be used as an alternative machine-readablemethod to encode and convey links or other information relative to thesystem.

A method in accordance with the present invention includes the steps ofthe gifting system providing a home page explaining the celebration orevent to a party who serves as an initial purchaser and, in certainembodiments, an event or celebration organizer The system interfaceprovides a menu or other selection means for the organizer to selectamong predetermined occasions. Depending on the occasion type selected,the system interface may provide means for selecting among predeterminedthemes or designs as well. The system interface comprises a computerprogram that runs on a computing device such as a personal computer(e.g. desktop, laptop, notebook), server, mobile devices such as atablet, mobile phone, IPOD™ IPAD™ and similar devices capable ofpresenting a user interface and networking to other computing devices.

The system interface receives details from the organizer such as thehost or organizer's name, telephone number and e-mail address, the guestor recipient's name and e-mail address, an event title, and event date,and a cut-off date for participation. The system interface provides oneor more menus or other selection means by which the organizer mayspecify recipient preferences as to shopping, dining, travel, or otherpurchase categories. The organizer selects whether or not to add a giftcard to the purchase and, if so, whether the gift card will be a groupgift card (receiving monetary contributions from multiple participants)or an individual gift card (paid by one party, typically the organizer).The organizer selects a gift card vendor, provides an amount, provides acutoff date for contributing amounts to the gift card by otherparticipants, and selects whether the gift card is to be a physical giftcard for delivery to the recipient via mail or delivery service or anelectronic gift card (also referred to an e-gift card or electronic giftcard). An electronic gift card is typically embodied as an electronicmessage that includes a code to a stored value or other redeemablevalue. An electronic gift card may be send to a recipient by electronicmessage.

If the organizer selects a physical gift card, the system interfaceprovides means for selecting and/or customizing a gift card holder. Thepurchaser may be presented with various design options for gift cardholders which may be segregated among categories. If a user selects acategory (e.g. color, design type, theme or occasion, pre-writtenmessage), then designs from that category will be presented for furtherselection. Typically, thumbnail images of designs are first presentedfor viewing on a system interface but may be selected by the purchaserto activate presentation of an enlarged view of the selected design.

Whether an electronic gift card or physical gift card is selected, thesystem provides an option for the selection and customization of avideo. If a physical gift card (as opposed to an electronic gift card)has been selected and will be delivered to a gift recipient, the videocomprises a celebration video to be provided for viewing by therecipient to enhance the recipient's gifting experience and celebration.If an electronic gift card is selected for delivery, a celebration videomay be provided for viewing on the personalized webpage. The celebrationvideo may be selected, or a custom video may be created by the organizer(or by the organizer and by the participants as a group video) on thesystem. If a group video is selected, the organizer would make thatdesignation, optionally determine a length of a video message that eachparticipant would be able to contribute, and each participatingparticipant would have the ability to record a brief video message to becompiled with all other individual video messages and presented to therecipient on the personalized webpage as one sequential video. Thecelebration video functionality is provided and intended to make thegift recipient feel special upon viewing the gift or gifts at thepersonalized webpage and to serve as another way to extend thecelebration of the special occasion.

The organizer provides an email address to be used by the system to senda link to the PURL which may be followed by the recipient to access thepersonalized webpage. The video, whether a teaser video or celebrationvideo, will be viewable on the personalized webpage upon delivery of thePURL link to the recipient. The video is created from a video templateselected by the organizer from among several video templates provided bythe system. Content provided by the organizer, such as images and text,are inserted by the system into predetermined fields in the videotemplate. The template and customized content is then rendered toproduce the final video for viewing by the recipient and others. Ateaser video may be sent prior to the cut-off date for participation toenhance the anticipation of the recipient.

In certain embodiments, the user uploads a photo or other image via aninterface such as a Flash based player interface. The user may uploadimage files in any system-supported format such as JPG, TIFF, PNG, andBMP formats. The user may also select to choose a file from a socialmedia network, which the system typically facilitates through aconnecting API. The uploaded image is stored on the Content DeliveryNetwork server. The image can be positioned by drag and drop, as well asfine-tuned controls for moving left, right, up, down, zoom in, zoom out,and rotating the image in 90 degree increments. The final, positionedimage is then placed in a template-based Flash video file. This videofile has predetermined placement areas that are marked and trackedwithin the video file. Uploaded content elements (e.g. text, images) aremapped on the placement areas in the video file. Once images and textare uploaded and mapped to the placement areas, the user can view apreview of the video through the video player. (Video players aretypically generated using means such as Flash or HTML5.) The video isthen composited and saved as a new video file (e.g. Flash video file)that is set for streaming from the Video Management System, specificallyfrom the content delivery network (e.g. Rackspace or Akamai CDN). TheVideo Management System typically includes the entire video processingsystem, from the Flash components to the CDN. The video may becomposited using any operable means, which may include a system specificcustom compositing engine based on Adobe's Open Source Media FrameworkTemplate Flash video files. An email is sent to the recipient with alink to follow to view the final composited video file. The video may beviewed using any operable means, including a system specific, customvideo player based on Adobe's Open Source Media Framework. The systemmay utilize a server such as a Rackspace Content Delivery Network serverfor storing the uploaded user images and a video server for storage ofthe template video files and streaming of the final composited videofiles. Additionally, via SWF to MP4 Conversion Tools, the video file istypically encoded into an MP4 format for optional playback on mobiledevices. In certain embodiments, HTML5 is used along with or instead ofFlash to play audio and video within webpages and, for example, toconstruct and play videos provided by the system.

Additional customization options are available if an organizer orparticipant selects to give an electronic gift card in addition tocreation of a celebration video. Certain embodiments of the systemprovide options for a participant to take any of the following actionsthrough interaction with the system:

1. Record a personal video message to announce the delivery of the gift.A video message is provided to the system either by recording viaappropriate hardware and software on a computerized device (e.g.personal computer, laptop, tablet, mobile phone, smart phone, or othercomputerized device) operable for recording and electronicallytransferring video to the system, and/or by uploading a video alreadyexisting on a computerized device. This video message is typicallycombined with the video messages of other multiple participants thatcontribute to produce a video compilation that results in a teaser videoor celebration video. Using video compilation tools, such as Flash orJavaScript in the prior art, and/or custom technologies, individualvideo clips are compiled or merged together to create one common videofile. A known video file format includes SWF. Upon compilation of thevideo, it is stored to a file for consumer consumption, typically to acommon, known format such as MP4. The video file is stored on a systemserver, such as a Content Delivery Network server, for playback to therecipient, organizer, participants, or other viewers. Participants maypreview video recorded to-date, i.e. video recorded by priorparticipants thus far, as well as provide additional video content.

2. Record a personal audio message to announce the delivery of the gift.This audio message can be recorded via the microphone on the user'scomputer or via a toll free telephone number. Recorded audio is storedon a system server in any operable format and may be incorporated intovideo, sent to the recipient via electronic message, provided forlistening via a link or audio player on the personalized webpage, orstored on an audio chip housed in a gift card holder.

3. Select to deliver the gift card to the recipient with a revealanimation video. Reveal animation videos are brief (for example,approximately 10 second) prerecorded animations that reveal what giftcard is being given. The participant sending the gift card may selectfrom a library of reveal animations, however, if no selection is made astandard, pre-selected animation may be used to announce the gift cardbeing given.

Video messages may be presented to the gift recipient for viewing on apersonalized webpage, as a video file attached to an electronic messagesuch as email or text message, as a video file accessible through socialmedia, or stored for viewing in a video playback device such as a videogreeting card or video gift card holder. Notice of the video message tothe gift recipient may be provided via electronic message, social mediasites, or by arrival and viewing upon the video playback device. Revealanimation videos may be stored in a similar manner, presented in asimilar manner and notice of reveal animation videos may be made in asimilar manner as described above for teaser videos.

Audio messages may be presented to the gift recipient for listening on apersonalized webpage, as an audio file attached to an electronic messagesuch as email or text message, as an audio file accessible throughsocial media, or stored for listening in an audio playback device suchas an audio greeting card or audio gift card holder. Notice of the audiomessage to the gift recipient may be provided via electronic message,social media sites, or by arrival and viewing upon the audio playbackdevice. In certain embodiments, the recorded audio is stored forplayback on a Content Delivery Network server (e.g. Rackspace CDN) toenable access to the audio message online for listening.

The system interface receives payment information from the organizersuch as credit card or other electronic payment information, typicallyutilizing a payment gateway API (e.g. PayPal® or Authorize.Net®) as wellas billing and shipping addresses.

The system interface provides means for the organizer to invite otherparties to participate in the celebration or event. Invitations may besent via e-mail address or more generally by posts to social mediasites. Based upon content uploaded or otherwise provided by theorganizer, the system creates an invitation page displaying therecipient's name, images and text, and means for participants to makepurchases and provide additional content. A celebration video, which maybe selected by the organizer from pre-produced videos or may be createdfrom a video template using participant content, may also be displayedupon the invitation page. Participants may suggest additional(prospective) participants to be invited by the organizer. The names andemail addresses of the suggested participants (invitees) will be sent bythe system in an email message to the organizer, alerting the organizerof these suggestions. The organizer may then log into the system to viewthese suggestions and deploy an invitation through the system to thosesuggested invitees they wish to invite.

Content provided by participants (participants include the organizer)may include messages entered as text, photographs or other images, andvideo or audio files. Content limits per participant may be preset bythe system or may be determined and set by the organizer Overall contentlimits, such as available video or audio file storage (whethercalculated in time or bytes) are set by the system and generallydetermined by physical limitations of audio or video file circuitmemory.

Content provided by participants, such as photos, may be uploaded from aparticipant personal computer or mobile device (IPOD™, IPAD™, mobilephone or similar devices) or may be obtained from social media citesreferenced by participants, such as a participant FACEBOOK™ or TWITTER™account/page, or photo sharing site, such as FLICKR™ or INSTAGRAM™.Video content is typically provided via file upload.

The system interface provides means, such as menus or lists, forparticipants to select and add a new gift card to the gifts to beprovided to the gift recipient under the celebration. Gift card choicespresented to the participants may be determined at least partially byinformation provided by the organizer such as recipient's favoriteshopping, dining, and travel venues or providers.

The system may include selection criteria, such as the following, thatis used by the system to construct a user profile that is used to selector generate special offers or to provide suggested gift card types orvendors to participants. Such criteria may be associated with the giftrecipient and may include event type, age, gender, and geographicallocation.

Example 1 Event=Birthday Age=14 Gender=Male Interests=GamingGeographical Location=Chicago, Ill. Coupon Offer=Electronic Arts Couponfor Gaming Example 2 Event=Baby Shower Age=25 Gender=Female GeographicalLocation=Minneapolis, Minn. Coupon Offer=Enfamil Coupon for FormulaExample 3 Event=House Closing Age=26 Gender=Male GeographicalLocation=Austin, Tex. Coupon Offer=Clorox Coupon for Cleaning Supplies

When such criteria is associated with a particular offer or offers,analytics, typically based on user input such as click-throughs, will betracked and evaluated either via system algorithms or by systempersonnel for continual improvement of the criteria type and associatedvalues. Selection criteria data is typically stored in a RelationalDatabase (e.g., MySQL, Oracle, etc.). PHP along with SQL is utilized tomatch special offers with selection criteria.

Following the cut-off date for participation, an email, text, socialmedia message or similar electronic message is transmitted by the systemto the recipient notifying the recipient of the celebration. If a textmessage or other message that typically does not support graphic contentis used, a link is provided to a recipient personalized webpage. If anemail or similar message capable of displaying graphic content is used,the message may include, in addition text, photos or other images(including images provided by participants) as well as theaforementioned link.

The personalized webpage is created by the system and serves as the maininterface for interaction between the recipient and the system as wellas a means for the organizer and participant, as well as third partyvendors, to display messages and content. Links to e-gift cards or todetails and descriptions regarding physical gift cards are typicallyprovided on the personalized event webpage and may comprise graphicelements, such as representations of gift boxes, which the recipient mayclick on with a computer pointer and mouse (or similar means) to openand view the details and descriptions. Physical gift cards may be shownas drawings or photos and will give the recipient the option to view whothe gift was from. Electronic gift cards (also referred to as e-giftcards) are typically presented via animated video. Following the video,e-gift cards may then be printed or sent to a mobile device. In the caseof a mobile device, the e-gift card will typically display a code on themobile device screen that may be used to access and use the e-gift cardto make a purchase. The system may present offers on the personalizedevent webpage from third party vendors such as discounts, coupons,special pricing and other incentives for using gift cards to purchasefrom certain manufacturers or within certain time spans.

The system interface provides means for the recipient to send thank younotes, either physical or electronic, to participants. In someembodiments, the recipient may customize thank you note content. Incertain embodiments of the system, the recipient may record and/orupload a video or audio message for viewing by participants. Links tosuch videos, typically hosted on a system webpage, may be transmitted toparticipants via email or text message or similar means, or may beposted on social media sites.

Another embodiment of the invention includes a personalized webpage tofacilitate travel-related gifting and sharing photos and travel-relateddetails, such as travel itinerary, with others. The personalized webpageis addressed by a PURL created using user entered information. The PURLand personalized webpage may be created by any of several types of usersincluding a traveler, a friend or relative of a traveler, or someone inthe travel industry working with the traveler, such as travel agentbooking a trip for the traveler.

The PURL-addressed personalized webpage may comprise a centralizedresource for storing and presenting all details pertaining to atraveler's trip and may replace one or more travel confirmation numbers.All trip details may be entered, stored and presented on thepersonalized webpage for ready access by the traveler and others(participants). In addition, the personalized webpage may present one ormore interfaces for participants to contribute monetarily to tripexpenses, purchase gifts for the traveler from associated merchants orvendors, purchase hotel upgrades, book dinner reservations, pay formeals and excursion, upgrade airline or other travel tickets, and viewand upload content.

The personalized webpage may also provide third party content pertainingto the trip such as flight information, weather information, and touringand activity suggestions. During or after the trip, the traveler mayupload content such as text, audio, photos, and video to the personalizewebpage for access by the traveler and for the traveler to share withothers. In certain embodiments of a travel-related personalized webpage,options for creating online photo albums may be provided as well asoptions for purchasing photo prints, photo compact discs, and printedphoto albums.

Travel-related personalized webpages and associated PURLs may be offeredby parties in the travel industry such as travel agencies, cruise lines,airlines, hotels, theme parks, national and state parks, and federal andstate tourism agencies. Travel-related personalized webpages andassociated PURLs may include themes or otherwise be directed tooccasions such as family vacations, honeymoons, anniversary trips,family travel such as for baptisms, and business-related travel.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an enhanced online giftingexperience that includes a webpage personalized for a gift recipient. Asystem according to the present invention includes an online interfacefor a purchaser to enter information identifying a gift recipient, aswell as text, sound, images or video relevant to the gift recipientand/or to an event. The system may use portions of this information, orother information provided by a user, to create a personalized webpageidentified and located via a personal uniform resource locator (PURL).The personalized webpage is a dynamic webpage that is addressed by thePURL which is created using information provided to the system,typically by an occasion organizer A gift recipient's name can beutilized by the system when generating (naming) the PURL or the PURL canbe custom named by the user. A unique identifier may be included in thePURL to avoid users creating duplicate PURLs.

The personalized webpage provides a means for a purchaser (i.e.organizer or host) to organize a gifting experience pertaining to anoccasion or event, and includes options to allow a gift recipient andinvited third parties (participants or guests) to add information andmake selections on the webpage.

An embodiment of a computer-implemented personalized webpage giftingsystem may include a purchase interface for receiving data comprising anoccasion selection, recipient identifying information, recipientpreferences, organizer identifying information, a personalized webpagedesign selection, a gift card selection, gift card selection criteria,event details, a gift card holder selection, a video selection, paymentinformation, and shipping information. Upon entering typically at leastoccasion selection, recipient identifying information, organizeridentifying information, webpage design selection, and event details,the system creates a purchaser-initiated personalized uniform resourcelocator addressing a personalized webpage (also generated by the system)for celebrating a recipient occasion and facilitating gifting to therecipient by the purchaser and other participants.

In an embodiment of the system, a user initiating a celebration (alsoreferred to as a purchaser, organizer or host) accesses a systempurchase interface of a system user interface of a system webpage orother gifting platform. The organizer may begin organizing thecelebration by selecting an occasion or event they wish to celebrate,typically on behalf of a gift recipient (recipient), for example abirthday, wedding or anniversary, or a seasonal celebration such asChristmas, Hanukah, or Valentine's Day. The organizer enters informationidentifying themselves, such as name and e-mail address, and also enterssimilar information identifying the recipient. The organizer selects andspecifies the gender of the recipient and also enters the recipient'sage. Additional information about the recipient, particularlyinformation pertaining to interests and preferences, such as where therecipient likes to shop and where the recipient likes to eat, may alsobe provided or selected. Such information may be selected from menus orlists of predetermined third party providers or vendors (associated withgift cards or other gifting means) that may be provided by the system.The organizer may also select a gift card from a list of predeterminedmerchants or vendors, as well as a corresponding dollar amount toassociate with the card, as the organizer's own gift to the recipient.The system provides the organizer with information regarding whether ornot any of the available gift card vendors are offering specials ordiscounts to the gift card recipient with the purchase of the gift card.

The organizer selects whether to close out the celebration or keep itopen for other participants to add to the amount or select additionalgift cards and amounts. (Note that the term “participant” may includethe organizer.) The organizer selects how the gift card will bedelivered, either physically or electronically/digitally, e.g. by email.Notification of the gift card may be via social media or networks suchas FACEBOOK™, TWITTER™, PINTEREST™, INSTAGRAM™, YOUTUBE™, GOOGLE™, or bySMS/Text Message or email. Physical gift cards are typically deliveredto the recipient by mail or mail service. Electronic gift cards may bedelivered electronically via non-public (private) means such as email ortext message or attachments thereto. The system provides the organizerwith an option for the personalized webpage to include special offers orcoupons from gift card brands, retailers, or manufactures for the giftrecipient (PURL recipient) to view and consider. The option willtypically be presented as an opt-in box that the organizer may select inorder for the gift recipient to see the special offers or coupons madeavailable from manufacturers or retailers at the time of the gift reveal(when the PURL and personalized webpage are presented to the recipient).

The system interface also provides the organizer with a selection ofgift card holder personalization options. The options may vary dependingon the gift card delivery method, either physical or digital.Personalization options for physical gift cards include selecting amongholders that may bear customized images and text, holders that mayinclude stored audio data for playback by audio circuits held within theholder, and holders that include stored video data for playback by videocircuits held within the holder and various combinations thereof.Personalization options for electronic gift cards include recording avideo or audio message to announce the arrival of the gift card,customizing a celebration video that utilizes the recipient's name,photo and other identifying elements, or selecting an animation videothat reveals the gift card to the recipient. If digital delivery of anelectronic or electronic gift card is selected, there are additionalcustomization options available such as audio or video messages thatallow the sender to announce the delivery or arrival of the electronicgift card as well as animation videos that do the same.

During the process of organizing the gifting experience, the systemcreates a personalized webpage for the recipient including a PURLtypically generated using information specific to the recipient, such asthe recipient's name or a portion thereof. The PURL is then used by thesystem, the organizer or other participants to identify and link to therecipient's personalized webpage created according to the system.Initially, the personalized webpage typically includes a message toparticipants identifying the recipient and the occasion to becelebrated. Options are provided to participants such as adding dollaramounts to a gift card, selecting a new gift card and amount, addingmessages or comments, viewing messages or comments, adding images orvideos, viewing images or videos uploaded by participants or generatedby the system, or adding other content to be used by the system.Typically, the personalized webpage will include indicia or instructionssuch as a countdown to the cut-off date, or occasion date, to promptparticipants to take action. Such instructions may also be transmittedupon initiation by the organizer or at selected intervals toparticipants to remind participants to take action.

The organizer may select among various prerecorded video templatesstored on a system server to customize a celebration video for extendingthe gifting experience for the recipient. The celebration video will bepresented to the recipient as on or in association with the recipientpersonalized webpage. Images provided by the organizer or otherparticipants, such as a photo of the recipient (and possibly theorganizer), as well as information provided as text, is placed by videogeneration software associated with the system into predetermined fieldswithin the video template thereby creating a customized video for therecipient. The celebration video is presented on a personalized webpage,or system interface thereof, and links to the personalized webpage maybe provided to the recipient, the organizer, and other participants bythe system via email or text messages or by postings on social mediasites.

In the case of an open celebration, the organizer will typically specifya cut-off date by which any contributions by other participants must bemade. Typically, the cut-off date is specified as just prior to the dateof the occasion being celebrated. Upon closure of an open celebration,the system will typically display a webpage thanking participants fortheir participation in the celebration, indicating amounts and types ofgifts prepared for the recipient, and displaying content provided byparticipants and the organizer A link may also be transmitted viaelectronic means, such as email or text message, to participants and/orposted on social media sites. The system also creates and displays thefinalized recipient personalized webpage including a greeting to therecipient and information such as indications of gifts provided,relevant dates (such as dates by which gifts will arrive in the mail orbe transmitted to the recipient), links to the teaser video or othercontent, and links to content or information provided on social mediasites.

The system also provides an option to select creation of an online photoalbum or scrapbook. The event organizer or others participating in thecelebration (collectively referred to as participants) may create anonline photo album consisting of any images provided by theparticipants, including photographs of the gift recipient. The pages ofthe photo album can be selected from a library of predesigned photoalbum page templates including predesigned photo layouts and pagedesigns. The photo album functionality typically may be accessed by allparticipants to view and to upload images. Images may be uploaded from aparticipant's computer or mobile device (e.g. cell phone, smart phone,pad or tablet) or may be selected from a social media site such asFACEBOOK™, TWITTER™, PINTEREST™, INSTAGRAM™, YOUTUBE™, and GOOGLE™.

The photo album is typically viewable by all participants throughout theevent creation process and to the gift recipient as part of therecipient's personalized webpage. The photo album displays the providedor selected photographs or other images and allows a participant whouploads an image to include a brief description, or caption, with theimage. Participants may also provide and associate comments with eachimage in the photo album. The various photos that are added may besized, moved or repositioned on a photo album page by the participantwho is adding the photos and customizing the album page. Photos may alsobe added, deleted, sized, moved or repositioned by the recipient.

A physical, printed photo album containing the image content (or aselected portion thereof) of the online photo album may be ordered foran additional cost. Printed photo albums are typically made availablefor ordering once the personalized webpage has been created and providedfor access to the gift recipient. The gift recipient or a participant(ordering party) may select from a number of photo album covers andtemplates to be used with a printed album and may place an order bywhich the selected images will be printed, compiled and bound into aphysical album mailed to the ordering party. In certain embodiments ofthe system, only the gift recipient may select printed photo albumcriteria such as images, covers and templates. In such case,participants in the event typically may also order and purchase thealbum designed by the gift recipient. In other embodiments of thesystem, any participant may make such selections to create a printedphoto album personalized for that participant.

In addition to gift cards, or other gifts generated by the systemthrough input from the organizer and participants, special offers may beprovided and presented through the system from third parties such asvendors. Vendors may, for example, offer coupons, discounts or otherspecial incentives for using gift cards by a certain date or forparticular types of purchases or for purchases from particularmanufacturers.

The system may also provide a selection of thank you cards, typicallyelectronic or e-cards, amongst which the recipient may choose fortransmission to one or more participants or groups of participants.Additionally, the system may provide means for the recipient to selectamong and/or customize a video message to participants. E-cards, videomessages or links thereto may all be posted by or through the system tosocial media sites. The system may also provide means for the recipientto send a physical thank you card that is personalized with photos,sound, text or video and sent to a selected participant, severalselected participants, or to all participants.

All Functionality described in the invention can either be provided viastandalone ecommerce site or individual components/modules can beembedded in third party retailer sites via industry standard APIsprovided by the system provider.

An embodiment of a method of providing a personalized webpage for onlinegifting may comprise certain of the steps of providing a systeminterface for receiving an occasion selection and recipient information,generating a personal uniform resource locator based upon a portion ofsaid recipient information, generating a personalized webpage addressedby said personal uniform resource locator, providing a system interfacefor receiving a first set of identifying information, a gift cardselection, a gift card dollar amount selection and a gift card deliverymethod selection, a second set of identifying information, a closedcelebration selection or an open celebration selection, a gift cardholder selection, one or more gift card holder personalization optionselections, and other personalized content, and providing means fornotification of the personalized webpage. The recipient information mayinclude gender, age, location and preferences. The gift card holder maybe selected from the group consisting of holders personalized with text,holders personalized with images, holders personalized with audio, andholders personalized with video. The personalized content may beselected from the group consisting of text, image file, audio file, andvideo file. The means for notification may be selected from the groupconsisting of text message, email message, electronic message, andsocial media network.

FIGS. 1A through 1C depict an example personalized webpage hostingsystem 100 according to aspects of the disclosure. The system 100includes a personalized webpage hosting server 102 or other computingdevice or system that includes a webpage hosting application 104 and adata source 106. As will be described in detail below, the webpagehosting application 102 receives personalized content for a recipientfrom a computing device 110 of a host and computing devices 112 of oneor more participants and generates a personalized webpage 108 fordisplay on a computing system 114 of a recipient.

The server 102 includes a processing system 202 (FIG. 2) that executesthe webpage hosting application 104 stored in volatile and/ornon-volatile memory 204 (i.e., computer readable media) using the datasource 106. Examples of a server 102 include one or more servers,personal computers, mobile computers and/or other mobile devices, andother computing devices. The server 102 may communicate via wirelessand/or wireline communications.

The server 102 communicates with a gift card validation server 116 foractivation of one or more gift cards, and a financial account server 118that is associated with a financial account of the user to providepayment for the activated gift cards by the host and participants. Thefinancial account is any type, such as a credit card account, a debitcard account, or a PAYPAL™ account of the user. Prior to activation of agift card, the server 102 facilitates a financial transaction betweenthe gift card activation server 116 and the financial account server 118associated with the user to provide payment for the gift card.

The server 102 also communicates with a social network server 120 and aproduction facility 122. The server 102 communicates with the socialnetwork server 120 to obtain information about the user and/or recipientfor suggesting additional content to be included with the gift cardholder/gift card combination. The server 102 communicates with theproduction facility 122 to facilitate manufacture of a medium forincluding user-supplied content, which in this particular embodiment isa gift card holder that may be sent along with the selected physicalgift card 128 to the recipient. The gift card validation server 116, thefinancial account server 118, the social network server 120, andproduction facility 122 have one or more processors and executableinstructions stored in volatile and/or non-volatile memory forperforming the actions and/or steps described herein.

In one embodiment, the server 102 receives personalized information froma computing device 110, 112 of a host or participant, respectively, andgenerates a gift card holder 126 that is sent to a recipient along witha selected gift card 128. The gift card holder/gift card combination maybe an electronic gift card holder 126′ and electronic gift card (e-giftcard) 128′ that is transmitted to a computing device 114 of therecipient as an element of the personalized webpage 108. In anotherembodiment, the electronic gift card holder/gift card combination may betransmitted to the computing device 114 of the recipient via a messagingservice, such as e-mail, a short message service (SMS), or a multimediamessage service (MMS), or other suitable digital communication medium.In yet another embodiment, the gift card holder/gift card combinationmay be a physical gift card holder 126 that is fabricated by theproduction facility 122 and sent to the recipient using a suitable maildelivery service along with a physical gift card 128.

The server 102 communicates with a website of a retailer, such as a mailorder retailer, or processing center of a retailer or other entity thatprocesses incoming orders for products and fulfills these orders bymanaging shipment of the ordered product to the purchaser or otherrecipient and payment for the ordered product from the purchaser.

The server 102 communicates with a gift card validation server 116 foractivation of the gift card, and a financial account server 118 that isassociated with a financial account of the user to provide payment forthe activated gift card by the user. The financial account is any type,such as a credit card account, a debit card account, a GOOGLE WALLET™account, or a PAYPAL™ account of the user. Prior to activation of thegift card, the server 102 facilitates a financial transaction betweenthe gift card validation server 116 and the financial account server 118associated with the user to provide payment for the gift card. Theserver 102 also communicates with a social network server 120 to obtaininformation about the user and/or recipient for suggesting additionalcontent to be included with the gift card holder/gift card combination.Additionally, the server 102 communicates with the social network server120 to obtain information about the user and/or recipient forsuggestions regarding events or any special occasions (e.g., birthdays,anniversaries, weddings, expected graduation dates, and the like)associated with the user and/or recipient. For example, the server 102may obtain information associated with a friend of the user indicatingthat the friend has an upcoming anniversary, and present thisinformation to the user along with any gift card/gift card holderdesigns related to anniversaries so that the user can optionally selecta particular gift card/gift card holder design to send to the friend(e.g., recipient).

The data source 106 stores personalized webpage files 130, gift cardinformation files 132, gift card holder information files 134,pre-recorded audio files 136, pre-recorded video files 138, andpre-recorded image files 139 (i.e., photographs). In other embodiments,the data source 106 stores any suitable type of information forpersonalizing the gift card holder by the user. The personalized webpagefiles 130 store information with each personalized webpage and itsassociated personalized uniform resource locator (PURL). The gift cardinformation files 132 store information with one or more gift cards thatmay be purchased by the host and/or participants. The gift card holderinformation files 134 store template data associated with customizedgift card holders that are generated by the host and/or participants.The pre-recorded audio files 136, video files 138, and image files 139may selected by the host or participant for inclusion as customizedcontent on the gift card holder 126, which is sent to the recipient.Although the data source 106 is shown as being located on, at, or withinthe local server 102, it is contemplated that the data source 106 can belocated remotely from the local server 102 in other aspects of thesystem 100, such as on, at, or within a database of a data managementsystem or a database of another computing device or system having atleast one processor and volatile and/or non-volatile memory.

The communication network 124 can be the Internet, an intranet, oranother wired and/or wireless communication network. In one aspect, oneor more of the server 102 and the computing devices 110, 112, and 114communicate with one another using any suitable protocol or messagingscheme. For example, the server 102 and computing devices 110, 112, and114 may communicate using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP),extensible markup language (XML), extensible hypertext markup language(XHTML), or a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) protocol. Otherexamples of communication protocols exist. Although the example of FIG.1A shows the server 102 communicating with the computing devices 110,112, and 114 through a network, other embodiments contemplate the server102 communicating directly with the computing devices 110, 112, and 114without the use of a separate and a distinct network. Additionally,other embodiments contemplate that the modules employed by the server102 and the computing devices 110, 112, and 114 are integrated in onecomputing system. Further, the servers 116 through 120 alternatively maycommunicate with the personalized webpage hosting server 102 via thenetwork.

The personalized webpage hosting application 104 provides a mechanismfor transmitting user-supplied content along with a gift card that isselected by the host and/or one or more participants. The user-suppliedcontent may be included on any suitable medium and may be contentgenerated by the host/participants (e.g., a video clip generated by acamera of the host/participants) and/or pre-recorded content 136, 138,and 139 stored in the data source 106 and selected for inclusion on themedium by the host/participant. In one embodiment, the medium is aphysical gift card holder 126 or an electronic gift card holder 126′.The application 104 the gift card holder 126 by uploading one or morephotographs, customized text messages such as a greeting, addpre-recorded songs and/or sound or voice messages and include thiscontent with the gift card holder 126.

The user accesses the system 100 via the computing device 110, 112hosted by the server 102 using an HTML link or other suitable entrypoint, such as through application software (i.e., a mobile app)executed on a portable computing device, such as a wirelesscommunication device. The application 104 then either transmits thisinformation to a production facility 122 where the physical gift cardholder 126 is fabricated according to the received information, andsubsequently sent along with a selected physical gift card 128 to therecipient, or generates an electronic gift card holder 126′, electronicgift card 128′ combination that is digitally transmitted to therecipient using an e-mail message, a short message service (SMS), via asocial media account, or other suitable digital communication medium.

FIG. 1B depicts an example embodiment of a computing device 110, 112,and 114 of the host, participants, and recipient according to one aspectof the personalized webpage gifting system 100. The computing device110, 112, and 114 is a computing or processing device that includes oneor more processors 140 and memory 142 and is to receive data and/orcommunications from, and/or transmit data and/or communications to, theserver 102 via the communication network 124. For example, the computingdevice 110, 112, and 114 can be a personal computer, such as a laptop ornotebook computer, a workstation, or other processing device such as apersonal digital assistant or a tablet computer. The computing device110, 112, and 114 includes a display 144, such as a computer monitor,for displaying data and/or a graphical user interface 148. The computingdevice 110, 112, and 114 also includes an input device 150, such as akeyboard or a pointing device (e.g., a mouse, trackball, pen, or touchscreen) to enter data into or interact with the graphical user interface148. In one embodiment, the display 144 comprises a touchscreen devicein which input is provided via contact by the user with the touchscreendevice.

The computing device 110, 112 includes a user application 152 stored inthe memory 142 and executed on the processors 140 to generate thegraphical user interface (GUI) 148 to the display 104. The graphicaluser interface 148 enables the computing device 110, 112 of thehost/participant to interact with one or more data entry forms receivedfrom the server 102 to enter order data for generating the personalizedwebpage and/or submitting orders to the application 104. In oneembodiment, the user application 152 includes a web browser thatdisplays interactive web pages, applets, or other suitable userinterface mechanisms including one or more selectable fields, editingscreens, and the like for selecting content and/or modifyingpre-recorded content by the user (i.e., sender). In another embodiment,the GUI application 152 includes application software (i.e., a mobileapp) that is executed on the computing device 110, 112, which is, forexample, a wireless communication device for providing one or moreselectable fields, edit screens, and the like for selecting contentand/or modifying pre-recorded content by the user.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the user application152 also includes one or more application program interface (API)modules 154 for communicating with one or more peripheral devices 156configured in the computing device 110, 112. The API modules 154 includeany type that receives user-supplied content from the user. For example,the API modules 154 include a keyboard for receiving alpha-numeric textinformation from the user, a microphone for receiving audio content fromthe user, and/or a camera for receiving photographic or video contentfrom the user. As another example, the user application 152 may exposethe API modules 154 for use by one or more other systems, such asPAYPAL™, or GOOGLE WALLET™, so that these systems may also communicatewith the peripheral devices 156 for receiving user-supplied content fromthe computing device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting an example personalized webpagehosting application 104 executing on the personalized webpage hostingserver 102. According to one aspect, the personalized webpage hostingserver 102 includes a processing system 202 that includes one or moreprocessors or other processing devices. A processor is hardware. Theprocessing system 202 executes the personalized webpage hostingapplication 104 to generate a GUI on a display of the computing devices110, 112, and 114 in order to receive customized content for generatingthe PURL, and for generating a gift card and associated gift card holderto be sent to a recipient. According to another aspect, the personalizedwebpage hosting server 102 also includes a display 203, such as acomputer monitor, for displaying data and/or a graphical user interface226. The personalized webpage hosting server 102 may also include aninput device 228, such as a keyboard or a pointing device (e.g., amouse, trackball, pen, or touch screen) to enter data into or interactwith the graphical user interface 228.

The personalized webpage hosting server 102 includes a computer readablemedia 204 on which the personalized webpage hosting application 104 anddata source 106 are stored. The personalized webpage hosting application104 includes instructions or modules that are executable by theprocessing system 202 to generate customized gift card holder/gift cardcombinations to be sent to a recipient. The computer readable media 204may include volatile media, nonvolatile media, removable media,non-removable media, and/or another available media that can be accessedby the personalized webpage hosting server 102. By way of example andnot limitation, computer readable media 204 comprises computer storagemedia and communication media. Computer storage media includesnon-transient storage memory/media, volatile media, nonvolatile media,removable media, and/or non-removable media implemented in a method ortechnology for storage of information, such as computer/machinereadable/executable instructions, data structures, program modules,and/or other data. Communication media may embody computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data andinclude an information delivery media or system.

A GUI interface module 206 facilitates the receipt of data and/or othercommunications from the host computing device 110, the participantcomputing device 112, and the recipient computing device 114. In oneexample, GUI interface module 206 communicates with the computing device110 to generate an interactive display, or other suitable user interfacemechanism including one or more selectable fields, editing screens, andthe like for receiving instructions and data and activating the card bythe host on the GUI 148.

A financial account API module 208 communicates with a paymentprocessing server, such as the financial account server 118, to transacta monetary transfer of funds from the financial account of the hostand/or participant to a financial account of a merchant of the giftcard.

The gift card validation API module 210 communicates with the gift cardvalidation server 116 for activation of the gift card. For example, thegift card validation server 116 may be a server managed by a merchantassociated with the gift card. For another example, the gift cardvalidation server 116 may be a third party server of a third party giftcard activation service for activation of the gift card. Examples ofsuch third party gift card activation service include INCOMM™, SVS™, andSTORE FINANCIAL™ gift card activation services.

A physical gift card or an electronic gift card (e-gift card) may bevalidated. In one embodiment, an e-gift card may be generated in digitalform and transmitted to the recipient via any suitable communicationmechanism, such as via an e-mail message or a short message service(SMS) message. The e-gift card may be printable in a form suitable forredemption at a retail outlet of a merchant associated with the e-giftcard.

Additionally, the GUI 220 may receive user input via the input device222 to control the operation of the server 102. For example, anadministrator may, from the display 203 and input device 222 of theserver 102, control the server 102 to inhibit or allow certainfunctionality, perform periodic maintenance on the server 102, and/oraccess one or more log files associated with the operation of the server102.

A user session management module 212 establishes, maintains, and cancelsuser sessions with each user (i.e., host, participants, and recipient)that accesses the personalized webpage. The user session managementmodule 212 grants certain rights to add, delete, and/or modify contentincluded in the personalized webpage according to each user. Forexample, the user session management module 212 allows addition and/ordeletion of certain features, such as the addition of another groupvideo or the deletion of an existing, while restricting the participantsfrom performing such procedures.

An announcement board management module 214 manages the creation andmodification of an announcement board that is included with the PURLwebsite. The announcement board is included as a portion of thepersonalized webpage for facilitating communication among the host andone or more participants. For example, a participant may jot down acomment to another participant that has previously added video contentto the group video feature of the personalized webpage informing theother participant that the added video content looks great.

A scrapbook management module 216 manages the creation and modificationof a scrapbook feature of the personalized webpage. The scrapbook isincluded as a portion of the personalized webpage, and includes contentsuch as textual, audio, photographic, and/or video content that issupplied by the host and/or participants for consumption by therecipient. The scrapbook is formatted in a manner to resemble a physicalscrapbook having multiple pages that each commemorates a memorableoccasion shared between the host/participants and the recipient.

A gift card holder (GCH) customization module 220 receives personalizedcontent from the computing system 110, 112 and provides for thecustomization of content, such as content received from the userinterface module 206. For example, the gift card holder customizationmodule 208 receives personalized content generated by thehost/participant and processes the received user-supplied content togenerate customized content to be included in the gift card holder. Foranother example, the gift card holder customization module 220 receivesuser selection of a holder type including a particular design associatedwith a special occasion, which is, for example, a birthday, wedding, ora holiday, such as Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and the like.

The user-supplied content also includes for example, content stored inthe data source 106, such as pre-recorded audio information frompre-recorded audio files 136, pre-recorded image information frompre-recorded image files 139, and/or pre-recorded video information frompre-recorded video files 138 that is further manipulated by the user viathe GUI 148. In a particular embodiment, the user-supplied contentincludes pre-recorded content including a song or a portion of apre-recorded song that is copyrighted and licensed by the owner of thecopyrighted song. The gift card holder customization module 220 modifiesexisting content, such as pre-recorded content or other previouslyreceived content, based upon input received from the computing system110, 112. An example of modifying existing content includes modifying areceived photograph using one or more photograph editing features thatprovides for cropping, color hue adjustment, brightness adjustment,sizing, and/or other features associated with manipulation of digitalimagery.

A peripheral device interface module 222 provides an interface to one ormore peripheral devices of the computing device, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) device, a camera, a microphone, and otherdevice configured on the computing system 110, 112. For example, theperipheral interface module 222 uses location information associatedwith a GPS device to aid in selecting pertinent gift card design (e.g.,when vacationing at Grand Canyon, the application 104 uses theperipheral device interface module 222 to select imagery of canyon toinclude as the design of the holder). For another example, theperipheral device interface module 222 receives audio, still imagery,and/or video content using the microphone and/or camera configured onthe computing device 110, 112.

A gift card holder (GCH) generation module 224 facilitates thegeneration of the gift card holder to be sent to the recipient alongwith the selected gift card. In one example, the gift card/gift cardholder combination is generated in electronic form and transmitted tothe recipient via any suitable communication mechanism, such as via ane-mail message, or a short message service (SMS) message. In anotherexample, information associated with the gift card/gift card holdercombination is transmitted to a production facility 122 for generating aphysical gift card holder, from which a gift card is inserted and sentto the recipient via a mail delivery service, such as the UNITED PARCELSERVICE™ (UPS).

It should be appreciated that the modules described herein are providedonly as an example of a computing device that may execute thepersonalized webpage hosting application 104 according to the teachingsof the present invention, and that other computing devices may have thesame modules, different modules, additional modules, or fewer modulesthan those described herein. For example, one or more modules asdescribed in FIG. 2 may be combined into a single module. As anotherexample, certain modules described herein may be encoded and executed onother computing devices, such as the computing devices 110, 112, and 114used by the host, participants, and recipient, respectively. Further,one or more or all of the modules may be stored and executed by thepersonalized webpage hosting server 102 and data and instructions aretransmitted to and from the personalized webpage hosting server 102 andthe computing device 103 to execute their functions.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example process of generating a personalizedwebpage and associated personalized URL by the application 104 accordingto the teachings of the present disclosure. Although the example processdescribes a generic GUI 148 interface for receiving content from thehost/participants for generating he personalized webpage, theapplication 104 may generate any suitable interface for receivinginformation from a host or participant that can be used to create apersonalized webpage and associated personalized URL. For example, theinterface may be generated as a webpage that is rendered by a webbrowser executed on the host computing device 110 through a network 124,such as the Internet, or generated by application software (i.e., amobile app) designed to be executed on a computing device embodied as awireless communication device, a tablet computer, or other similar typeof portable computing device.

In general, the generic interface receives information from the hostthat includes selection of an occasion, recipient identifyinginformation, recipient preferences, host identifying information, apersonalized webpage design selection, a gift card selection, gift cardselection criteria, event details, a gift card holder selection, a videoselection, payment information, and shipping information. Upon receivingthe information, the application 104 creates a personalized uniformresource locator (PURL) addressing a personalized webpage forcelebrating an occasion of the recipient and facilitating gifting to therecipient by the host and one or more other participants.

In step 302, the application generates an occasion selection screen(FIG. 4) for receiving a particular occasion to be celebrated with therecipient. Examples of selectable occasions generated by the application104 include, for example, a birthday, wedding or anniversary, or aseasonal celebration such as Christmas, Hanukah, or Valentine's Day.

In step 304, the application 104 generates a recipient informationscreen (FIG. 5) for receiving recipient identifying informationassociated with the recipient. As shown, the recipient informationscreen may also provide an interface for entering certain interestsand/or preferences known about the recipient by the host. Theseinterests/preferences are used by the application 104 to generatesuggested content and/or gift cards that may be added to thepersonalized webpage.

For example, the application 104 may prompt the host to enterinformation identifying the host and information identifying therecipient. Such information may include name, address, telephone numberand email address. If the host uses a device including GPS to access thesystem, such as mobile telephone, GPS data may be provided by the deviceto the system as a means of providing host location. Further informationentered for the gift recipient may include gender, age, interests, etc.Providing interests to the system may include entering or selecting, bythe host, vendors typically frequented or preferred by the recipient.The purchaser is then prompted to select one or more gift cards or othergifting means, select or enter monetary amounts, and providepersonalization content, such as photographs or other images, sound orvideo files, or one or more messages to the recipient.

In one embodiment, the application 104 presents the host with a choiceto either create a closed webpage wherein all selections are made by thehost, or to create an open webpage wherein the host serves as anorganizer, and participants, and in some embodiments the recipient, mayprovide additional content and selections.

In step 306, the application 104 generates a host information screen(FIG. 6) for receiving information associated with the host. In step308, the application 104 generates a webpage design screen (FIG. 7) forreceiving information associated with a particular design of thewebpage. For example, if the application receives Christmas as anoccasion selection, the webpage design screen may include selectablethemes, such as a manger design theme, a wise men design theme, and aChristmas tree design theme that may be selected by the host.

In step 310, the application 104 generates an occasion/event detailsscreen (FIG. 9) for receiving one or more details to be associated withthe personalized webpage. For example, the event details screen mayreceive a title to be associated with the personalized webpage, a dateof the event, and a participant cut-off date. The event date is the dateat which the personalized webpage is made available to the recipient,while the participant cut-off date refers to a point in time in which nofurther content is allowed to be added to the personalized webpage sothat it may be finalized for sending to the recipient. In oneembodiment, the application 104 displays a counter indicating a periodof time period remaining before the cut-off date arrives. In step 312,the application 104 generates a group video screen (FIG. 10) forreceiving information associated with a group video to be added to thepersonalized webpage.

In step 314, the application 104 receives information associated with agift card. To accomplish this, the application 104 generates a gift cardmerchant selection screen (FIG. 12) for receiving information associatedwith a particular merchant of the gift card. Once the merchantinformation is received from the host, the application generates a giftcard detail selection screen (FIG. 13) for receiving detailedinformation associated with the gift card.

The gift card may be a physical gift card that is fabricated by aproduction facility and sent to the recipient using a suitable maildelivery service, such as the United Parcel Service. Alternatively, giftcard may be an electronic gift card (e-gift card) that is included inthe personalized webpage. In one embodiment, if the gift card is to be aphysical gift card, the application 104 receives information forcustomization of a gift card holder to be sent with the gift card to therecipient in step 316. Additional details for customizing gift cardholders, which are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/273,220, entitled “Online Personalized Gifting System,” filed Oct.13, 2011, is incorporated fully herein by reference in its entirety.

Once gift card information is received, the application 104 authorizesthe selected gift card with the gift card validation server 116 in step318. That is, the application 104 provides the host with an option forthe personalized webpage to include special offers or coupons from giftcard brands, retailers, or manufactures for the gift recipient to viewand consider. The option will typically be presented as an opt-in boxthat the host may select in order for the gift recipient to see thespecial offers or coupons made available from manufacturers or retailerswhen the recipient views the personalized webpage.

In step 320, the application 104, processes payment for the selectedgift card by communicating with a financial account server that managesa financial account (e.g., a credit card account) of the host.

In step 321, the application 104 generates the PURL and associatedpersonalized webpage using information provided by the host. Theapplication 104 generates a uniform resource locator (URL) to uniquelyidentity or associate the recipient with the personalized webpage. Inone embodiment, the personal uniform resource locator (PURL) willtypically take the following form: http://<party name or other selectedpersonal identifier>.<domain name (typically the name or identifier ofthe owner of the domain)>.<com, net, biz, org or other top leveldomain>. In other embodiments, any suitable uniquely identifying formatmay be used. The generated PURL may be used as a means for providing acustomized or personalized web address without creating a separatedomain.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example process of a PURL management webpage thatis generated by the application 104 according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure.

In step 322, the application 104 generates a splash screen (FIG. 14)representing a home page of the PURL management webpage. The splashscreen provides for user initiation of a particular personalized webpage(step 324), navigating to a help page (step 326), navigating to aninformation screen describing the administrators of the PURL managementwebpage (step 328), and/or navigating to a site map page that outlinesdescribing the various webpages that make up the PURL management webpage(step 330).

From a user perspective, the host initiates begins organizing thepersonalized webpage by selecting an occasion or event they wish tocelebrate, typically on behalf of a recipient, for example a birthday,wedding or anniversary, or a seasonal celebration such as Christmas,Hanukah, or Valentine's Day. The host enters information identifyingthemselves, such as name and e-mail address, and also enters similarinformation identifying the recipient, such as the gender of therecipient and the recipient's age. Additional information about therecipient, particularly information pertaining to interests andpreferences, such as where the recipient likes to shop and where therecipient likes to eat, may also be provided or selected. Suchinformation may be selected from menus or lists of predetermined thirdparty providers or vendors (associated with gift cards or other giftingmeans) that may be provided by the system. The host may also select agift card from a list of predetermined merchants or vendors, as well asa corresponding monetary amount to associate with the card, as thehost's own gift to the recipient. The system provides the host withinformation regarding whether or not any of the available gift cardvendors are offering specials or discounts to the gift card recipientwith the purchase of the gift card.

In response to the host initiating a particular personalized webpage,the application 104 generates a drop-down list (FIG. 15) showing thevarious occasions that the personalized webpage may be generated for instep 332. Alternatively, the application 104 may generate a detailedoccasion screen (FIG. 16) showing a detailed view of the occasions forwhich the personalized webpage may be generated for in step 334. When aparticular occasion is received from the host, the application 104displays a “next” button (FIG. 17) for the host to continue to step 336.

In step 336, the application 104 generates a details entry screen (FIG.18) for receiving information associated with the host, the recipient,and one or more other participants. Additionally, the application 104may be receive, via the details entry screen, information associatedwith personal preferences associated with the recipient that theapplication 104 may use to create suggested gift cards that may bepurchased by the host and/or participants.

In step 338, the application 104 generates a gift card selection screen(FIG. 19) for receiving selection of one or more gift cards. At thispoint, the application 104 receives instructions from the host foreither entry of information for adding one or more participants (step350) or customizing the selected gift card. The host and/or therecipient selects how the gift card will be delivered, either physicallyor digitally. If the gift card is a physical gift card, it may bedelivered using a conventional mail delivery service. However, if thegift card is an electronic gift card, it may be included as a feature ofthe personalized webpage.

In step 340, the application 104 generates a gift card customizationscreen (FIG. 20) for receiving additional information associated withthe selected gift card. In step 342, the application 104 generates agroup video entry screen (FIG. 21) that provides for entry of textual,audio, photographic, and/or video content by the host and/or theparticipants. The group video review screen also allows the host and/oreach participant to review the celebration video that was previouslycreated.

Any type of user-supplied content may be entered by the host and/orparticipants. For example, the user can upload a photo or other imagevia an interface such as a Flash based player interface to theapplication 104. The user may upload image files in any supported formatsuch as JPG, TIFF, PNG, and BMP formats. The uploaded image is stored onthe data storage 110. The application 104 provides for positioning ofthe image by dragging and dropping the image to a selected portion ofthe screen, as well as fine-tuning controls for moving the image left,right, up, or down as well as zooming in, zooming out, and rotating theimage in any desired orientation. The final, positioned image is thenplaced in group video file. The group video file has predeterminedplacement areas that are marked and tracked within the group video file.Uploaded content elements (e.g. text, images) are mapped on theplacement areas in the video file. Once image and text information areuploaded and mapped to the placement areas, the host and/or participantscan view a preview of the group video through a video player.

The group video is then composited and saved as a new group video file(e.g. Flash video file) that is set for streaming from a contentdelivery network or content distribution network (CDN), such asRACKSPACE™ or AKAIVIAI™. The content delivery network typically managesmost or all content of the group video file. The group video may becomposited using any suitable means, which may include a system specificcustom compositing engine based on Adobe's Open Source Media FrameworkTemplate flash video files.

The personalized webpage includes a hypertext link to access the finalcomposited group video file by the content delivery network. The groupvideo may be viewed using any suitable means, including a systemspecific, custom video player based on Adobe's Open Source MediaFramework™. The system may utilize a server such as a Rackspace ContentDelivery Network™ server for storing the uploaded user-supplied imagesand a video server for storage of the template video files and streamingof the final composited group video files. Additionally, using formatconversion tools (e., SWF to MP4 conversion tools), the group video filemay be encoded into an MP4 format for optional playback on mobiledevices. In certain embodiments, the group video may be formattedaccording to an HTML5 format to play audio and video within webpagesand, for example, to construct and play group videos provided by thesystem.

In step 344, the application 104 completes a transaction with the hostusing conventional financial checkout procedures. At this point, theapplication 104 receives instructions from the host for either entry ofinformation for adding one or more participants (step 350) or creationof a reveal video by the host and/or participants. In step 346, theapplication 104 generates a reveal video creation screen (FIG. 22) thatallows the host to create a reveal video structure. The application 104allows the host to select among various prerecorded video templatesstored on a system server to customize the reveal video for therecipient (FIG. 23). The reveal video will be presented to the recipientas on or in association with the recipient personalized webpage. Imagesprovided by the host or other participants, such as a photo of therecipient, as well as information provided as text, is placed by videogeneration software associated with the application 104 intopredetermined fields within the video template thereby creating acustomized video for the recipient. In step 348, the application 104generates an invitation screen (FIG. 24) that allows participants to addvideo and/or audio content to the reveal video structure.

In step 350, the application 104 generates a guest invitation screen(FIG. 25) that allows the host to enter the one or more participants. Inorder to invite participants to contribute to the content of thepersonalized webpage and/or to make gift purchase selections, a linkincorporating the PURL associated with the webpage may be sent toparticipants via email, text message, social media or other technique.The invitation to participate may include graphics and text designed toencourage participation and build excitement. The invitation may be sentwell in advance of an alert to the recipient, so that participants maymake contributions and selections to the webpage, as well as giftpurchases, prior to presentation of the personalized webpage to therecipient. Alternatively, the recipient may be alerted shortly aftercreation of the personalized webpage so that the recipient may alsoinfluence content and selections, such as by providing a wish list orother information useful for participants to make gift purchasedecisions.

In step 352, the application 104 receives various options associatedwith the PURL webpage that includes for example, the cut-off date forparticipation in the PURL webpage, the delivery date at which the PURLwebpage is made available to the recipient, one or more content featuresto be included in the personalized webpage, an addition or deletion ofat least one of the participant users. At this point, the application104 generates a PURL and a corresponding personalized webpage usingcustomized information provided by the host.

FIG. 3C illustrates an example process of a personalized webpage that isgenerated by the application 104 according to the teachings of thepresent disclosure. In step 360, the application 104 generates a homepage when either of the computing devices 110, 112, and 114 of the host,participants, and/or recipient, respectively, accesses the personalizedwebpage via the PURL.

In step 362, the application 104 generates a version of the personalizedwebpage according to an identity of the user that accesses thepersonalized webpage. For example, the application 104 generates a homepage screen (FIG. 26) that is displayed for the host and/orparticipants. In one embodiment, the application 104 provides sessionmanagement for access to the personalized webpage using a login screenin which each user, such as a public user, the host, participants, orrecipient may enter identifying information, such as a user name andpassword for providing a session to view and/or modify content includedin the personalized webpage. In one embodiment, the session provided forall users other than the host has limited modification rights relativeto the host. That is, the session provided for the host allows certainadministrative operations that are restricted from use by either of theparticipants, recipient, and other (i.e., public) users. Administrativeoperations allowed by the host session may include, for example, adelivery date that the personalized webpage is to be made available tothe recipient, one or more content features to be included in thepersonalized webpage, an addition or deletion of at least one of theparticipants.

The public user generally refers to a generic user who is neither ahost, a participant, nor a recipient associated with the personalizedwebpage. In one embodiment, an administrative operation of the hostincludes whether the personalized webpage is to be a public webpage or aprivate webpage. For example, if the host designates the personalizedwebpage to be a public webpage, access to the personalized webpage isallowed for public users; however, if the host designates thepersonalized webpage to be a private webpage, access to the personalizedwebpage by public users is not allowed.

In another embodiment, the application 104 provides anotheradministrative operation of allowing the host to add or delete one ormore content features, such as the celebration video or scrapbook, fromthe personalized webpage. For example, after the application 104 hasgenerated the personalized webpage and participants have begun inputtingcontent, it is noted that an additional scrapbook should be generatedfor a particularly memorable occasion known among the host, certainparticipants, and the recipient. In this case, the application 104provides a means for the host to generate a second scrapbookcommemorating the particularly memorable event even after thepersonalized webpage has been initiated.

In step 364, the application 104 generates a gift card selection screen(FIG. 27) for receiving information associated with one or more giftcards. The application 104 provides for adding additional monetary valueto a previously selected gift card; or alternatively, selection of a newgift card by the host and each participant.

In one embodiment, the application 104 performs analytics usinginformation about the recipient to generate suggested gift cardselections for the host and participants. The recipient information maybe obtained from the host, participants, and/or one or more social mediaoutlets. The application 104 includes various selection criteria toconstruct a user profile that is used to select or generate specialoffers or to provide suggested gift card types or vendors toparticipants. Examples of such selection criteria may include an eventtype, an age of the recipient, a gender of the recipient, and ageographical region in which the recipient resides. As a particularexample, analytics performed on a male recipient residing in Chicago,Ill. having his 14th birthday reveals that he has an interest incomputer gaming. The application 104 uses this information to suggestone or more gaming coupons for computer games. When such criteria isassociated with a particular offer or offers, analytics based on userinput such as click-throughs, will be tracked and evaluated either viasystem algorithms or by system personnel for continual improvement ofthe criteria type and associated values.

In step 366, the application 104 receives textual, audio, photographic,and/or video content from the host and/or participants for generating agroup video to be included in the personalized webpage. For example, theapplication 104 may allocate a specified time portion of the group videofor each participant to enter a video segment to be included in thegroup video. Additionally, the application 104 may provide forembellishments to existing video segments by certain participants.

A group video is generally a video file which may be provided on thepersonalized webpage to communicate a particular sentiment, occasion, orgift card brand experience for the recipient. The group video istypically personalized by uploading the recipient's photo to a systemcentral server. Text content can be added to certain customizable textfields such as the recipient's name and the occasion or sentiment. Uponuploading personalized content, the video is then rendered or compositedto include the personalized content. The recipient is able to share thegroup video via social media channels by sharing a video URL associatedwith the group video with social networks, such as FACEBOOK™ TWITTER™,PINTEREST™, INSTAGRAM™, YOUTUBE™, and GOOGLE™.

To select and enable generation of a group video, the host selects agroup video type from among several prerecorded video templates that maybe viewed on or from the GUI 148 of the host computing device 110 orparticipant computing device 112. The host uploads a photograph, such asa photograph of the recipient and/or a photograph of the host, entersthe recipient's name in a text box, selects an appropriate occasion orsentiment from among several provided by the system. In someembodiments, additional text fields may be provided to receiveadditional text or photographic information from the host and/orparticipant. The photograph and text information are rendered into theselected video based on pre-defined fields within the video therebycreating an augmented reality experience for the recipient. The hostand/or participants are provided with an option to preview the video andmake changes to the entered information. When the host is satisfied withthe video, it is saved to the data storage.

In step 368, the application 104 activates a scrapbook according to uponrequest from the computing device of the host or one of theparticipants. The pages of the scrapbook can be selected from a libraryof predesigned scrapbook page templates including predesigned photolayouts and page designs. The scrapbook functionality typically may beaccessed by all participants to view and to upload images. Images may beuploaded from a participant's computer or mobile device (e.g. cellphone, smart phone, pad or tablet) or may be selected from a socialmedia site such as FACEBOOK™, TWITTER™, PINTEREST™, INSTAGRAM™,YOUTUBE™, and GOOGLE™.

The scrapbook is typically viewable by all participants throughout theevent creation process as part of the recipient's personalized webpage.The scrapbook displays the provided or selected photographs or otherimages and allows a participant who uploads an image to include a briefdescription, or caption, with the image. Participants may also provideand associate comments with each image in the scrapbook. The variousphotos that are added may be sized, moved or repositioned on a scrapbookpage by the participant who is adding the photos and customizing thealbum page. Additionally, photos may also be added, deleted, sized,moved or repositioned by the recipient.

A physical, printed scrapbook including the image content of the onlinescrapbook may be ordered from the administrator of the PURL managementwebpage. Printed scrapbooks are typically made available for orderingonce the personalized webpage has been created and provided for accessto the gift recipient. The gift recipient or a participant may selectfrom a number of scrapbook covers and templates to be used with aprinted album and may place an order by which the selected images willbe printed, compiled and bound into a physical album mailed to theordering participant. In certain embodiments, only the recipient mayselect printed scrapbook criteria such as images, covers and templates.In such a case, participants in the event typically may also order andpurchase the album designed by the gift recipient. In other embodimentsof the system, any participant may make such selections to create aprinted scrapbook personalized for that participant.

Once the scrapbook is activated, the application 104 generates variouspages, such as a background page that includes content summarizing othercontent included in the scrapbook (step 370), one or more photo pagesincluding photographs entered by the host and/or one or moreparticipants (step 372), one or more text pages including textualcontent entered by the host and/or one or more participants (step 374).At any point during the scrapbook generation process, the host and/orparticipants may review the scrapbook for visualizing the scrapbook asit would be viewed by the recipient (step 376).

At the delivery date set by the host, the application 104 sends amessage, such as an email notification message to the gift recipient andincludes a link to a personalized webpage identified by a PURL. Thepersonalized webpage and PURL are both created by the system in responseto selections and information provided by the host. Typically, the PURLwill incorporate some portion of the recipient's name or other personalidentifier. In certain instances the identifier may relate to the nameof a company or organization. The personalized webpage may includeinformation provided by the host such as the recipient's name, images,messages to the recipient, and information regarding gifting. Means maybe provided for the recipient to add information to the webpage such asa wish list or a message to participants that view or interact with thewebpage. Means may also be provided for participants, such as friends,relatives, or coworkers to add information for presentation on thewebpage or other use by the system, such as details of an event (e.g.birthday party), messages to the recipient, or photos or video clips ofan event. Information generated by the system or provided by the systemprovider may also be presented on the webpage such as informationidentifying gifting opportunities for a party interacting with thewebpage. Information provided by a gift card vendor, or affiliates ofthe system provider or gift card vendor, may also be provided. Forexample, offers and advertisements generated by or on behalf of the giftcard vendor or affiliate may be displayed.

In order to alert the recipient to the personalized webpage, and toprovide a link incorporating the PURL associated with the webpage, thesystem may generate an email, text message, social media message orsimilar means of communication to the recipient. In one embodiment, theapplication 104 generates a notification to the recipient via a socialmedia outlet. The application 104 may include network APIs andJavaScript SDKs, for example, using the Facebook SDK to invoke varioussocial network APIs. It should be appreciated that communicationsbetween the system and social media networks make occur by any operablemeans. In addition to a link to the personalized webpage, postsgenerated by the social media outlets may provide additional informationrelated to the recipient and event and provide a means for coordinatingactivities related to the event.

As an alternative to e-mail or text messages to convey links, QR codesmay be provided on gift cards, gift card holders, inserts, backerpanels, correspondence, or other physical items conveyed to the giftrecipient. These QR codes may be used as an alternative machine-readablemethod to encode and convey links or other information relative to thesystem.

FIG. 3D illustrates an example process for displaying the personalizedwebpage to the recipient by the application 104 according to theteachings of the present disclosure. In step 380, the application 104generates the recipient version of the personalized webpage when therecipient establishes a session as described above with respect to step362 of FIG. 3C. The application 104 generates an initial splash screen(FIG. 28) that is displayed for the recipient when the recipient sessionis initially established. The splash screen includes a hypertext linkfor receiving an instruction by the recipient to view the variousfeatures of the personalized webpage. For example, the application 104generates a recipient home page screen (FIG. 29) that allows therecipient to browse through the various features of the personalizedwebpage previously generated by the host and participants (step 382).

In step 384, the application 104 generates a gifting screen (FIG. 30A)when the recipient selects a gifting hypertext link from the recipienthome page. The gifting screen includes monikers that may be expanded bythe application 104 when selected by the recipient as shown in FIG. 30B.In one embodiment, the a merchant offer screen (FIG. 30C) is generatedby the application 104 to display one or more merchant offeringsprovided by certain merchants who have previously formed advertisingagreements with the administrator of the PURL management webpage. Themerchant offer screen includes other monikers that may be expanded bythe application 104 when selected by the recipient as shown in FIG. 30D.

In step 386, the application 104 generates a thank you screen (FIG. 31)for entry of thank you information to be sent to the participant and theparticipants. That is, the application 104 provides for selection ofthank you cards, typically electronic or e-cards, among which therecipient may choose for transmission to the host and the one or moreparticipants. Additionally, the system may provide means for therecipient to select among and/or customize a video message toparticipants. E-cards, video messages or links thereto may all be postedby or through the system to social media sites. The application 104 mayalso provide means for the recipient to send a physical thank you cardthat is personalized with photos, sound, text or video and sent to aselected participant, several selected participants, or to allparticipants.

From the home screen, the application may display various other screens,such as the group video that has been generated by the host andparticipants (step 388), and the scrapbook that has been generated bythe host and participants (step 390).

A personalized URL and associated personalized webpage has been hereindescribed that provides a technique for group collaboration to generatea gifting mechanism for a recipient using user-supplied textual, audio,photographic, and/or video content that may include one or more giftcards. Whereas conventionally implemented gift cards are typically smallin size thus minimizing any visual appeal that may otherwise be obtainedwith physically larger retail products. Additionally, due to the giftcards' relatively small size, only a limited amount of information maybe placed on these gift cards. Embodiments of the present disclosureprovide a solution to this problem via an online personalized webpagefor including personalized information and/or one or more customizedgift cards for a recipient.

A system according to the present invention includes a graphical userinterface (GUI) for entry of information by a host identifying a giftrecipient and one or more participants. The host generally refers to asan administrator of the personalized webpage while the participants aregenerally referred to as users of the webpage having limited rightsrelative to the host. The host and the participants may enter content,such as text, sound, images or video relevant to the recipient and/or toan event associated with the recipient. The system may use portions ofthis information, or other information, to create a personalized webpageidentified and located via a personal uniform resource locator (PURL).The personalized webpage is addressed by the PURL which is created usinginformation provided by the host. A recipient's name can be utilized bythe system when generating (naming) the PURL or the PURL can be customnamed by the host. A unique identifier may be included in the PURL toavoid users creating duplicate PURLS.

It is to be understood that while certain forms of this invention havebeen illustrated and described, it is not limited thereto except insofaras such limitations are included in the following claims and allowableequivalents thereof.

1. A personalized gifting system comprising: a server in communicationwith a computing device and comprising at least one processor; and anapplication stored in at least one memory and executable by the at leastone processor of the server for generating a graphical user interface(GUI) on the computing device to: receive, from the GUI, recipientinformation associated with a recipient from a user of the computingdevice; receive, from the GUI, at least one user-supplied audio, video,textual, and photographic content from the user; receive, from the GUI,a monetary amount to be associated with a gift card from the user; andtransmit the at least one user-supplied audio, video, textual, andphotographic content and the gift card to the recipient.
 2. Thepersonalized gifting system of claim 1, wherein the gift card comprisesan electronic gift card (e-gift Card), the application furtherexecutable to electronically transmit the e-gift card and the at leastone user-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographic content to therecipient.
 3. The personalized gifting system of claim 2, wherein theapplication is further executable to transmit the e-gift card and the atleast one user-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographic contentas an element of a personalized webpage that is personalized accordingto the recipient.
 4. The personalized gifting system of claim 1, whereinthe application is further executable to transmit at least a portion ofthe at least one user-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographiccontent to the recipient prior to transmitting the at least one giftcard to the recipient, the portion of the at least one user-suppliedaudio, video, textual, and photographic content comprising teaserinformation associated with the gift card to be transmitted to therecipient.
 5. The personalized gifting system of claim 1, wherein thememory stores a plurality of video templates, the application furtherexecutable to: receive, from the GUI, selection of at least one videotemplate from the user; combine the at least one user-supplied audio,video, textual, and photographic content with the selected videotemplate; and transmit the combined at least one user-supplied audio,video, textual, and photographic content and the selected video templateto the recipient.
 6. A personalized gifting method comprising the stepsof: generating, a graphical user interface (GUI) for receiving recipientinformation associated with a recipient and one or more participantsfrom a host; receiving, from the GUI, the recipient informationassociated with the recipient from a user of the computing device;receiving, from the GUI, at least one of a user-supplied audio, video,textual, and photographic content; receiving, from the GUI, informationassociated with a merchant of a gift card and a monetary amount to beassociated with the gift card from the user; and facilitating transmitof the at least one user-supplied audio, video, textual, andphotographic content and the gift card to the recipient.
 7. The methodof claim 6, further comprising the step of electronically transmittingthe gift card and the at least one user-supplied audio, video, textual,and photographic content to the recipient, wherein the gift cardcomprises an electronic gift card (e-gift card).
 8. The method of claim7, further comprising the step of electronically transmitting the e-giftcard and the user-supplied content using at least one of an emailmessage or a short messaging service (SMS) message.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising the step of transmitting the e-gift card andthe at least one user-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographiccontent as an element of a personalized webpage that is personalizedaccording to the recipient.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the GUIis configured for receiving, from the user, one or more administrativeoperations associated with the personalized webpage.
 11. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the gift card is a physical gift card.
 12. The methodof claim 11, further comprising the step of facilitating generation of agift card holder; and facilitating the transmission of the physical giftcard and the gift card holder to the recipient.
 13. The method of claim6, further comprising the step of transmitting at least a portion of theat least one user-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographiccontent to the recipient prior to transmitting the gift card to therecipient, the portion of the at least one user-supplied audio, video,textual, and photographic content comprising teaser informationassociated with the gift card to be transmitted to the recipient. 14.The method of claim 13, wherein the portion of the at least oneuser-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographic content iselectronically transmitted using at least one of an email message or ashort messaging service (SMS) message.
 15. The method of claim 6,further comprising the steps of: receiving, from the GUI, selection ofat least one video template from the user; combining the at least oneuser-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographic content with theselected video template; and transmitting the combined at least oneuser-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographic content and theselected video template to the recipient.
 16. The method of claim 6,wherein the user-supplied content is received by interfacing with one ormore peripheral devices of the computing device.
 17. A personalizedgifting method comprising the steps of: generating a graphical userinterface (GUI) for receiving recipient information associated with arecipient and one or more participants from a host; receiving, from theGUI, the recipient information associated with the recipient from a userof the computing device; receiving, from the GUI, at least one of auser-supplied audio, video, textual, and photographic content from aplurality of users; compositing the received at least one user-suppliedaudio, video, textual, and photographic content into a single sequentialmessage; receiving, from the GUI, information associated with a merchantof a gift card and a monetary amount to be associated with the gift cardfrom the user; and transmitting the sequential message and the gift cardto the recipient.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein one of theplurality of users is the host and a rest of the plurality of users areparticipant users, and wherein the GUI is configured for receiving, fromthe host, one or more administrative operations associated with apersonalized webpage that is personalized according to the recipient.19. The method of claim 18, wherein the gift card is an e-gift card, andfurther comprising transmitting the e-gift card and the sequentialmessage as an element of the personalized webpage.
 20. The method ofclaim 17, further comprising the steps of: receiving, from the GUI,selection of at least one video template from the user; combining thesequential message with the selected video template; and transmittingthe combined sequential message and the selected video template to therecipient.